"He Drums Lubolo" (68"W x 74"L)
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He Drums Lubolo
Homage to the Disappeared
Shhh! He's Composing Himself
Lucy Goes to Vote
Did You Hear? Her Son's in Trouble.
You Don't Remember...But She's Still With You
Stormy Weather
Empty Bassinette
Uruguay is home to Candombe - the drum and song music of the African Uruguayans. The Lubolo is the drumming group of extended family members and close friends that drum together at family and neighborhood celebrations. My family and I lived in Uruguay for 3 years beginning in 1985. I served as a Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo. I was the first African American Vice Consul to serve at that embassy. My tour of duty was wonderful, dispiriting, strange and uplifting, all at once. Making this quilt pulled together all my emotions from that time to focus on the parts that made me confront racism external and internal - made me connect to my African and musical past in a new way.
"He Drums Lubolo" (68"W x 74"L)
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Homage to the Disappeared was commissioned by Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston, Texas in 2004. Lauren's largest quilt (20'W x 7'L) is currenty on permanent display in the Church's Lifelong Learning Center. The quilt was inspired by the dedication and sacrifice of women who have been killed or disappeared in the struggle for human and women's rights around the world.
"Homage to the Disappeared" (20'W x 7"L)
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Shhh! He's Composing Himself was the first large art quilt created in my Ithaca, New York studio in 1993. One day, I came upon my older son composing music. With his left hand he was trying notes on the piano and with his right transcribing them on blank sheet music as my younger son and I watched quietly from the hallway. It seemed the notes were flowing out of the pen...
"Shhh! He's Composing Himself" (86"W x 63"L)
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Lucy Goes to Vote was inspired by the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa coming to fruition in the free election of Nelson Mandela as president. News reports of hundreds of thousands walking miles from their small villages to polling places to cast their votes made me wonder what women were thinking and feeling as they walked with their families and neighbors. My grandmother told me stories of lines of black people waiting to vote after universal sufferage in 1964. At the top left of the quilt are the words to the Negro National Anthem and South African National Anthem.
"Lucy Goes to Vote" (62"W x 85"L)
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Did You Hear Her Son's in Trouble has been the most challenging theme I have attempted through the art quilt media. As a lawyer, I had thought I would be dismissed from jury duty by attorneys arguing the case of domestic abuse by a young black man. I was wrong. The trial and jury deliberations were very emotional and brought to front issues of prejudice and differences in culture in deciding to take away a young black man's freedom. Wherever this quilt has been shown, people have approached me and shared often tragic stories of a family member or friend on trial or in jail. I tried to capture the attitude of the judge during for him a routine day and one of hundreds of similar cases he had tried, the stone face of the defendant in front of a room full of white faces and the worry of the mother as she watches the fate and future of her son decided by strangers.
"Did You Hear Her Son's in Trouble" (Defendent - 29"W x 72"L; Judge - 44"W x 72"L; Mother - 36"W x 61"L)
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You Don't Remember... but She's With You was a very emotional quilt for me to create. Making the quilt helped me deal with the loss of my mother when my younger son was still very small. She loved reading, loved to see children read and helped many children and adults to learn. I know she is watching as her grandchildren grow. I tell my son about her keen intellect, how proud she would be of his love of books and learning and, above all, that she is still with him.
"You Don't Remember... But She's With You" (69"W x 52"L)
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Stormy Weather was my first large art quilt in my new studio at Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. My family's move to Florida from New York was a milestone for us. Leaving the Northeast for the South and changing careers to art and art education full time has been difficult. Our move coincided with hurricanes Charlie, Jean, Francis and Ivan roaring through Florida. The fantastic scenes of ocean and sky combined with our day-to-day personal challenges called forth the need for supernatural calm and strength against all the elements.
"Stormy Weather" (84"W x 88"L)
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Working full-time on art, being able to bring out more of my own feelings through my quilts and art education programs has in some ways freed me to portray and speak about those events in our lives which are kept silent. Empty Bassinette portrays the tragedy of a woman who has had a still birth near the end of her pregnancy. With this quilt, I shared my own experience with many of my friends for the first time. It surprised me how quickly they began to tell me about experiences in their own families and how often this tragedy can occur. While the sadness and loss will never go away, it helps us to know that we are not alone and to appreciate even more the treasure that is our children.
"Empty Bassinette" (63"W x 63"L)
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